r^ 



474 



THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE 



vations which apparently were made whilst he was in 

 entire ignorance both of the facts and of the views 

 announced by Dr. Gros and Mr. Carter ^ 



But whilst the influence of actual mass is 



origin of higher 



most 

 important^ I am fully convinced that the existence of 



a certain molecular composition has really more to do 

 (as a determining cause) with the 

 forms than the mere bulk of the mass which undergoes 

 transformation "'. It is, however, quite true that, under 

 the same conditions, similar matter will often transform 

 itself into higher and higher forms (either directly or 

 indirectly), according as the size of the mass which 



undergoes transformation increases. 



This is well exemplified by the results of some 

 observations recorded by M. Nicolet, in which the 

 protoplasmic contents of one of the intcrnodes of 

 Chara may, he says, be seen to give birth to a teeming 

 progeny of independent living things, which subse- 



^ M. Nicolet says : — * In organic chemistry the proportion of the 

 atoms determines the substance, here the proportion of the granules 

 seems to determine the species. This will explain some of the singular 

 anomalies which are observed in the development of certain Infusoria, 

 and the difference in the final form assumed according to the more or 

 less abundant supply of nutriment.' 



^ A large mass of matter, under the influence of unsuitable conoitions 

 which suffice to alter its molecular constitution, may be compelled to 

 assume the comparatively low mode of existence of an Actinophrys or 

 Amoeba ; or it may be compelled to segment into Monads or Fungus- 

 germs - even if, under still worse conditions, it does not become resolved 

 into a swarm of Bacteria. On the other hand, the complex egg-like 

 bodies produced within an internode of Nitella may, as we have seen 

 (p. 406), be either large or small. 



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